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// FFAF #6-Pony Noir 
// Story: Ponywatching 
// by ThunderTempest 
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I coughed, but I managed to keep my mouth wrapped around my sword, for all the good it would do me now. I could feel the blood trickling out from the corners of my mouth, and I’d lost all feeling below my waist. It felt like my entire body was slowly being dropped into an ice bath, and not the good kind.

“Ow,” I said, coughing up another gout of blood, staining the handle of my sword, “that hurts. Note to self: don’t get stabbed again.” I was using the wall to prop me up as I pulled myself along and into a side alley, unsure if my legs could take my full weight. Heh, I’d never thought that this would be how I’d go. I’d always imagined having a brilliant career and then retiring. Death never really crossed my mind. 

I grimaced as the cold feeling started in my wingtips. Well, guess there really was no escaping it now. No flight, barely able to walk, and I could hear hoofbeats coming my way. I let myself collapse against the wall, sliding down into a sitting position, and I let my sword drop onto the stone ground. It didn’t feel like it was gonna be long now. I shut my eyes for a moment, hearing the hoofbeats coming closer and closer to me, and finally stopping.

“I will give you this, you were tenacious. You came closer than anypony ever has before.” The voice was layered, like it was several people speaking at once, and it gave me a headache.

“Do you expect me to,” I paused to open my eyes and cough again, “feel proud of that? I hate losing.” I looked up at the mare that I’d been asked to investigate. Of course, she hadn’t looked like she did now, all black and full of holes, back when I’d first been introduced to the case.

“Oh, Miss Dash,” crooned Chrysalis with that freaky voice of hers, rubbing one hoof along my face, “you could have had everything you ever wanted. All you had to do was walk away. But you just had to keep pushing, didn’t you?”

“I don’t,” I struggled for breath, and I could feel Death breathing down my neck now, “Leave cases unfinished, or clients waiting more than they have to. I’m,” I trailed off with another few coughs, and more blood flowed out of my mouth. Breathing was getting really difficult now, like that one time when I’d flown up above the recommended maximum altitude for pegasi.

“I’m Rainbow Dash,” I eventually managed to gasp out, “the fastest PI in equestria. Don’t leave ponies hanging.”

“I can see that, Miss Dash,” said the changeling, green fire enveloping her, switching back to the looks of the pony that I’d originally been asked to investigate. “Any last words?” she asked, levitating a hooffile from somewhere, and began to use it.

“Your voice is stupid,” I managed to gasp out, as the chill finally rose above my neck, and settled into my head. I shut my eyes, and heard Chrysalis begin to walk away.

I am Rainbow Dash, Private Investigator, and this is how I died-alone in an alleyway, a case unfinished, the bad guy still out there. So much for 'never leave a case unfinished'.